Charles edouard henriod



(No Model.)

0. E. HENRIOD.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

No 603,986. Patented May 10,1898.

CHARLES EDOUARD HENRIOD, OF BIENNE, SWITZERLAND.

EXPLOSIVE-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 603,986, dated May" 10, 1898.

Application filed March 4, 1898.

invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in explosive-engines, and in particular to means for automatically regulating the speed of such engines.

The object of my invention is to provide means for regulating the speed of the engine which will avoid the use of the governor, and thereby simplify the construction of such ongine.

With this and some other objects in view, which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the description hereinafter, my invention consists in the features, details of construction, and combination of parts,which will firstbe described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then particularly pointed out in the claims.

-In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of an engine embodying my invention and adapted for the use of gas as a motive fluid; Fig. 2, a similar view of a modified embodiment of my invention, the construction being such that a suitable hydrocarbon oil may be used as a motive fluid; and Fig. 3, a detail view of the sprayingyalve employed in the construction shown in Fig. 2.

The form of motor shown in the drawings comprises a working or power chamber a and a piston b, movable within the same and connected by means of a connecting-rod c to a crank d, wherebypower is transmitted to the driving-shaft in the usual well-known manner. An exhaust-port is provided at a. The connecting-rod is inclosed by a casin g, in this instance forming part of theengine, so as to form an air-tight compression-chamber e. Outside of this compression chamber is placed a chest or valve-body f, in the cham ber of which are located two valves g and h. The interior of the compression-chamber e communicates with the valve-chamber at a point between the two valves 9 and h by Serial No. 672,622. (No model.)

means of a constricted passage-way a The valve-chamber is provided with an inlet is, through which the mixture of air and gas is supplied to the engine when employing gas as a motive fluid, as in the construction shown in Fig. 1, or through which air alone is supplied when oil is employed as a motive fluid, as in the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The valve-chamber containing the valves g and h is connected to the working or power chamber a of the engine by anysuitable connection-as, for instance, by a port or passage Z, in which is located a spring-controlled check-valve an, arranged to prevent back firingin the said passage-way beyond said checkvalve m, and provided with a spring to, acting against a head 0), secured on the valve-stem of the check-valve.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the the valve-seat of this spray-valve being provided with a series of oil-passages q, connecting with an annular oil-duct r, supplied with oil through a channel 5, leading from a sup- I ply-pipe t, which conducts the oil from a suitable source. (Not shown.)

The essential feature of my invention consists (in connection with the valves 9 and h) in so proportioning the area of the passageway t' to the compression-chamber c that at a normal speed of the engine the air-and-gas mixture will be able to transmit the pressure from the compression-chamber e to the valvechamber with such promptness as to cause the closing of the valve g and the opening of the valve h substantially at the moment the piston commences to compress the air or mixture in the compression-chamberthat is, at commencement of the power-stroke-while, on the other hand, when the speed of the engine goes above the normal rate the constricted passage-way t, offered for the entrance and escape of the air or air and gas, which must first move inward through the passage-Way and thenoutward again, causes an appreci-- able delay in the transmission of the pressure in the compression-chamber c to the valvechamber, thus producing a corresponding delay in the closing of the valve 9 and opening of the valve h, whereby the piston is enabled to perform an appreciable part of its powerstroke before said valve h opens, and thereby the said valve h (which closes as soon as the piston reaches the end of its power stroke) is not permitted to stay open for its normal length of timei As a consequence the amount of air or air and gas which is permitted to pass through the passage Z from the compression-chamber to the working chamber is reduced when the speed of the engine increases beyond the normal rate, and the charges to the working chamber are thereby diminished until the speed again attains the normal.

In order to-obtain the above results, the

area of the passage-way 2' relative to the cu bical contents of the compression-chamber 0 should be not greater than the proportion of two square millimeters to twenty cubic centimeters, and, preferably, in order to develop the full power of the engine at its normal speed, not less than one square millimeter to twenty cubic centimeters. Between these relative proportions the passage-way will have the desired eifect upon the flow of air or air-and-gas mixture and will then act, in combination with the other elements, to

produce the automatic regulation of the engine. This is what I mean by the use of the term constricted passage-way. In order that this principle of automatic regulation may be applied to an engine in which oil is employed as a motive fluid, it is necessary to provide an oil-spray valve which will supply oil to the air in proportion to the amount of 1 air Which is entering the Working cylinder.

To do this, I cause the spray-valve 0 to be opened by the check-valve m, so that the time during which said spray-valve is opened is 5 determined by the duration of time that the check-valve m is open, which is dependent upon the length of time during which the air from the compression-chamberis being forced into the working cylinder. Thus in an engine using oil for forming the explosive mixture with air the diminution in the period of time for which the valve h is held open reduces the supply of air, and this, through the use of a spray-valve working on the principle above described, in turn reduces the supply of oil to the said air, whereby the quality of the charge is practically uniform, although its quantity may be reduced to effect the reduction in speed of the engine.

Th us, as will be clear from the specification, by the construction employed by me I am enabled to control the speed of the engine and maintain said speed substantially at a normal rate, notwithstanding variations in the load on the engine. This I accomplish automatically by means of an exceedingly simple nature.

' Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. An explosive-engine provided with a working chamber, a piston, a compressionchamber behind the piston, a valve-chamber having an inlet, a passage between the valveranged to close the inlet during the power stroke of the engine and the other to close the passage from the valve-chamber to the working chamber during the opposite stroke of the engine, whereby the increase in speed of the engine beyond the normal rate will cause a delay in the operation of the valves and a consequent reduction in the charge supplied to the working chamber.

2. An explosive -engine provided with a working chamber, a piston, a compressionchamber behind the piston, a valve-chamber having an inlet, a passage between the valvechamber and the working chamber, and a passage-way between the valve-chamber and the compression-chamber, said passage-way being sufficiently constricted to retard the flow of fluid when the speed of the engine passes above the normal, in combination with valves in the valve-chamber, one being arranged to close the inlet during the power stroke of the engine and the other to close the passage from the valve-chamber to the working chamber during the opposite stroke of the engine, whereby the amount of air supplied to the working cylinder varies with the speed of the engine, and a fuel-spray valve arranged to be operated by the supply of air to the working cylinder, whereby the quality of the charge is maintained substantially uniform.

3. An explosiveengine provided with a working chamber, a piston, a compressionchamber behind the piston, a valve-chamber having an inlet, a passage between the valvechamber and the working chamber, and a passage-way between the valve-chamber and the compression-chamber, said passage-way being sufliciently constricted to retard the flow of fluid when the speed of the engine passes above the normal, in combination with valves in the valve-chamber, one being arranged to close the inlet during the power stroke of the engine and the other to close the passage from the valve-chamber to the working chamber during the opposite stroke of the engine, whereby the amount of air supplied to the working cylinder varies with the speed of the engine, achcck-valve in the said passage and arranged to be opened by the air on its way through the passage to the working cylinder, and a fuel-spray valve actuated by the movement of the said check-valve.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES EDOUARD HENRIOD.

Witnesses:

EDUARD VON WALDKIROH, PAUL SCHNEIDER. 

